A Hotel Boom In Seattle, Impacted Views For Condo Owners

I just read a piece from the Seattle Times this morning that all of you should know about. It highlighted new developments that could have a lasting impact on condo owners in Seattle. According to the article there are a number of hotel projects in the process of planning and development. We all know that some of these projects will not be built. With that said, the ones that do – could impact hundreds of condo owners in the city.

For example, it has been widely known that the developer of Olive 8 (R.C. Hedreen) owns the massive site at 8th and Stewart that includes the Greyhound bus terminal. At one point in time, plans for the site were rumored to include a 900-950 unit hotel. As Pryne pointed out in his piece today, city permit records show that their plans now include more hotel rooms, 600 apartments, 350,000 square feet of office and 125,000 square feet of meeting space. This would severely limit many of Olive 8’s Lake Union views. Zoning at 8th and Stewart allows for 50 stories – Olive 8 is 39 stories high.

Other plans include hotels/mixed use at 2nd and Stewart, 5th and Stewart, Denny Triangle and Boren, Third and Pike and Second and Pike. These would obviously change the skyline for many of Seattle’s residents. As a condo owner or prospective buyer, it is prudent to stay on top of city plans for our neighborhoods. At the end of the day, we never want to buy a view that we believe will last forever – they don’t. With that said, we can find units that have view protection, purchased view rights or temporary windows of time that allow for a view while we live in the unit.

Is that Via 6 on the left edge of the photo (u/c with tower cranes)? If so then Amazon’s 3 tower proj will be located just to the right of V6 in that photo, also blocking the view to Lake Union. Views don’t last very long in fast growing cities with limited areas in which to locate tall buildings, Seattle is no different.